Eight Mile Outfitters produced bucks for 46 percent of their clients last year. These results were short of what Stan Jones anticipated, but in fairness, his success rate last season is on par with many Canadian and other equally famous whitetail hunting areas. Plus, his official hunter success rate is deceptive because he had clients wound or miss entirely 10 different bucks. Additionally, there was an unusually high number of incidents in which something simply went wrong (especially with trophy bucks), preventing the hunter from even getting a shot! One hunter failed to shoot either of two B & C bucks he stalked within 12 feet of because of a muzzleloader malfunction. And another hunter later in the rifle season missed a buck estimated by other hunters to score over 190 points!
The biggest negative influence on hunter success this past year was terrible hunting weather. During my muzzleloader hunt in September, it rained and the wind howled. Worse still, there were seemingly endless days of record high temperatures.
Nevertheless, Eight Mile Outfitters impressed me. It wasn't simply that the biggest buck killed with them green-scored 186 points, or that a number of other bucks scored more than 160 points, even though these bucks were certainly impressive. What influenced me most was that Eight Mile Outfitters was obviously dedicated to helping clients kill the buck of their lifetimes. There are several of reasons why I say this.
First, they provide the habitat and water necessary to produce big bucks. They plant a variety of food plots (more than I have seen elsewhere), each maturing at different times of the year and providing........(continued)
